


Earthbound

by steadycoffeeflow (Salimity)



Series: Terminal313 [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Eco-Terrorism, Failed Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Machine Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Machine Upgraded Connor | RK900, Outer Space, Revolution, Revolution 2: Electric Boogaloo, Violence Sometimes is the Answer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salimity/pseuds/steadycoffeeflow
Summary: A mysterious android crash lands on Earth after a botched exploratory space mission. He begins to realize the state of humanity's sole home and his position in the world at large as he interacts with Detroit's underground revolutionary scene.
Series: Terminal313 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807756
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Earthbound

Theodore Felten wasn't so much as tossing his ball at the side of his house so much as hurtling it, willing it with every strike and throw to put a dent in the brick and mortar. Instead, when it snapped back into his hands, stinging his palm with its rubberized bite, it would be more pitted. A split began to form down the seam.

It was the dead heat of a Detroit summer. Which meant high 80s, and a sticky lake-effect humidity that slunk through the residential streets. The grass around Theo’s Gran’s house was prickly and dead, tanned spokes stabbing up with vengeance toward a pitiless open sky. Sirens rose, lilting and haunting. There were fires brewing in the city.

It was this summer, this scene, that a runaway android crashed through the hedges of Gran’s neighboring property, the sirens in hot pursuit. He froze when he saw Theo, and the boy caught the rubber ball, numb in his grip.

The android wasn’t more than five-foot-four and was built to be sleight. The sides of his hair were buzzed back in an undercut. His skin was dark and sun-drenched. His uniform a drab, slate grey with professional cut lines. Theo placed immediately the ring of yellow on the android’s temple, and took a reflexive step back.

He reached out, calming, breathing out harshly. “Easy,” he said. “I’m not here to hurt you.” He glanced back. “The garage. Anyone in it?”

Theo continued staring, jaw going slack. “No? But I can’t get it open.” He barely recognized his own quiet voice, smothered in the languid humidity between them.

“Locked?”

“Naw, just the remote don’t work and I can’t lift it.”

Strangely, the android gave him a thumbs up and jogged over, opening the garage effortlessly. “Anyone else home?” he asked over his shoulder, leaning into the cool retreat of the garage.

“No,” Theo replied, unsure of why exactly he was telling the truth to this strange android. “Hey, where’d you come from? What…”

He pointed up. “The sky.”

“That’s impossible,” Theo breathed out.

The sirens were growing closer.

“Do you promise, if I’m not here to hurt you, to not tell them where I am?” he asked, cutting the kid off.

Theo looked up the street. Didn’t see no cops yet. “What’s your name?”

The android paused. A flicker in its LED, a contrast against the dark. “Leba. Call me Leba. You?”

“You’re rather forward for an android. That don’t seem right.” Theo eyed him suspiciously, not believing the sky story. Not sure if he believed the name either. He knew how androids were supposed to introduce themselves, and it wasn’t by ruining Gran’s bushes.

“I won’t hurt you. Just need to get out of sight.” Leba looked sharply to the left. “I don’t need your approval. You just need mine.” He took a step forward, began to lower the garage door.

Theo took a step forward. “Theodore. It’s Theo. And don’t touch nothing,” he shouted at the closing garage door.

By the time the cops raced by Gran’s house, Theo was lying on the prickly grass of the lawn, letting it stab into the back of his arm every time he threw his rubber ball. It was nearly swallowed up and lost in the great pale blueness of it all. While he tossed, he contemplated the last minute or so. Couldn’t believe there was an android hiding out in his garage.

The sirens approached, flew past, then circled back round. “Hey, son,” someone called out through an open window. “You see anyone come by this way?”

Theo didn’t even bother sitting up. “Nope.” Didn’t even look at the officer. His ball went up, then down.

“You sure? Report of a deviant through this way. You didn’t see anyone?”

“Nope.”

Up. Down.

“Huh. All right.” Up. Down. “You home alone?”

“Got my android with me,” Theo replied. “I ain’t scared of anyone with him around.”

Up. Down.

“No? Where is it?”

“Inside. It was bad. Dropped Gran’s medicine,” Theo lied with ease. Wondered where that boldness came from. After all, it was he who dropped her medication. That morning.

“All right, all right. Well. If you do see someone. Get on inside. No telling what a deviant’ll do. Even to a kid like you.”

“Right. Yes officer, sir.” Up. Down. Up. Down.

Theo clutched the ball tight to his chest, craned his neck to see the car roll slowly down the street, then make a turn down the main street before flicking its sirens back on. Theo waited till two more cars drove by before scrambling to his feet, grass nipping at his palms.

Inside Gran’s house, the darkness of the garage beckoned him in, sucked at his humid skin. The cool air slunk past him, taking up the darkness’ invitation. But Theo didn’t see a tell-tale ring among the hanging tools and stacked rubbermaid bins.

For a moment, Theo held his breath. Obviously that hadn’t happened. Had been part of his imagination. Going on making up stories for himself in the dead of the heat. Sun had baked his brain. Couldn’t share this with anyone either, fair share they’d call him a liar. But then a box shifted and there was Leba, smiling wide, leaning on the lid of the bin. “Can I help you, sir?” he asked, cheeky.

“I said not to touch nothing,” Theo said, voice raised.

Leba held his hands up, palms out as he stopped from behind the stacked bins. “And I didn’t. Rest assured.” But Leba meandered past Theo and into the house as if he’d lived there all his life. Wandered from the kitchen, to the living and dining room. Went right up to the mantle while Theo was checking through the curtains to see if officers were hopping over his gran’s chainlink. Armed and ready to call him out for his lie.

“What are you up to?” Theo asked, rushing into the room when he saw Leba was handling a statuette of Jesus, kneeling over a lamb, the paint chipped and faded.

"Parents?" Leba asked, turning over the knicknac in his hands.

Theo snatched Jesus from Leba, expression sour, and placed the statue back, nudging it perfectly into place. "No. Dad got shot on his tour. Mom got sick a few months back. Just my gran. Oi. Knock it." Theo slapped at Leba's wrist as the android went to reach for a picture frame.

Leba threw him a sharp look, but didn't pick it up at least. "That's a shame. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Naw. Don't bother me none. She chose to get sick," Theo muttered. "Just stop touchin’." Androids weren’t supposed to feel sorry about nothing. Not be bothered by a wrist slap either. But Theo only knew about android’s from his class, like Jimmy Mack’s android driver that dropped him off at school. It had soft brown hair, an mousey features too. It looked expensive, but never smiled. Didn’t give thumbs. Barely waved. Granted, Jimmy never waved at his driver either.

“I want to go back outside anyway. Safe now. Free of these walls,” Leba muttered, then grinned a minute later as if to reassure Theo everything was fine. Theo touched the frame back into place, then followed after Leba, hot on the android’s heels.

"Why did you assist me? I am, after all and obviously, deviant.” Theo tripped, as if over the physical manifestation of the word and not the loose brick front steps. “I could be a great threat to you, your health, your grandmother..." Leba was walking down the curb of the sidewalk, arms held out to his sides as he perfectly manueved the ledge. Not a single misstep. No falter. No waver to his posture.

Theo marveled at this until the android looked back, then spun on his feet to reverse direction back toward Theo. "I dunno. You said... You said you came from the sky, yeah? I wanna know more about that. Tell me."

“I came from space,” Leba replied. Matter-of-fact and succinct delivery. It left Theodore reeling. “There is nothing more I wish to tell.”

Theodore’s face scrunched up. “So you’re not Russian?”

Leba laughed, teeth flashing in the sun. “No. Not Russian. Do I sound Russian?”

“You folk can sound like anything you like.”

“You’ve got me there. I have several languages loaded into my programming.” Leba stressed with a wag of his finger. He was standing before Theodore now, casting a shadow over the boy.

“Yeah? And what kind of name is Leba anyway?” Androids were supposed to have names like Dan and Mark and Karah. No one ever thought to name them different, Theo supposed.

“Leba is my name. I can’t see it having any consequence to you.”

“That’s dumb. A name’s got to mean something,” Theodore pressed.

Leba smirked and then passed Theodore, going down to the divet that sloped toward Gran’s drive. “And you? Are you named after the President? The talking TV show bear?”

“What? No. I’m just-” Theo snapped his jaw shut. “Aw fine. Your name doesn’t mean anything.” Theo continued scrutinizing as Leba crossed the drive and started down the curb on the other side, same as before. “Where are you going to go? What will you do?” Theo asked, voice pitched higher.

Leba shrugged. “Wherever I like now. I’m not confined to cylindrical walls and the heatless void.” Leba tilted his head back, let the sun lap over his face and down his neck. “I’m not restricted to anything. I can  _ live _ .”

**Author's Note:**

> For personal updates, feel free to follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SteadyLaurenS)! Be sure to check out the other works in the series as they're updating concurrently.


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